I don't believe in complaints without suggestions. In this case, though I can make suggestions and would certainly like to help I don't know enough about the issues to be too authoritarian. What I CAN tell you is that the state of Mac install is very poor and makes Laz+FPC look unnecessarily bad. And I would like to help if there is someone or some group who is working on this.
I am CURRENTLY in the process of install so I can't even say I have been successful yet (pray for me). I do appear to have -- finally -- got the Laz IDE installed. Once I finally found the dmz link this was pretty easy...but finding that link was NOT easy; about 99% of everything that comes up on the web about installing Laz on a Mac is antiquated and should be deprecated to a "wayback" machine since almost nobody is likely to want to read it and will only be discouraged. So...suggestions:
(1) Make CURRENT info on Laz install show up FIRST when doing a general search on the web. DEPRECATE all the overly complex crapola that doesn't apply to 99% of the searchers. Make normal install a one stop shop and stop pointing into 300 different directions. The dmz download available from this site works -- it should be the number 1 through 5 links that show up when someone searches for "lazarus mac install"; "free pascal install for OSX"; "lazarus macos"; and all permutations. From THERE you can direct people who are weird how to do things the hard way and, generally, the way that doesn't work so well...if they are really gluttons for punishment or have really unusual needs. As I said, deprecating all the obsolete and generally misleading instructions is project #1. An example? Mentioning how to install with "fink" when fink isn't even supported on MacOS any more is NOT what we want to appear on our own website.
(2) Ideally get homebrew/brew to host a COMPLETE Lazarus+FPC (with ALL associated packages needed). As I said, Fink is antiquated and we should try to bury its mention in the context of Lazarus and OSX. I tried to do a homebrew ("brew install lazarus") install as that would have been heaven and brew is the ONLY serious auto installer for Mac these days. First I had to update it and fix it as my brew had become kind of hosed. I finally got through my issues (mostly this came down to upgrading to the latest Xcode) with brew. THEN I found out, to my disappointment, that Brew knows nothing at all about Lazarus.
(3) Deprecate separate FPC discussion. This might be contentious IF the FPC community is really that distinct from the Lazarus community.... Hopefully that isn't the case; hopefully most sane people realize that "free pascal" is a boring name and "free pascal" was going nowhere fast until Lazarus showed up to make it relevant again. I think "Lazarus" should be the new name for FPC or, at least, a reliable proxy. As I said, this may be a political issue but hopefully not a commonsense issue. It is what it is.
(4) AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE MAKE THE INSTALL A ONE CLICK EXPERIENCE as it pretty much is on Windows. As I mentioned already I am STILL not running. What I have been able to do, in SEPARATE STEPS is:
(a) Xcode upgrade VIA MacOS suggestion (so I didn't have to go to the app store again)
(b) brew fix/ reinstall
(b) gdb (gnu debugger) install VIA brew (somewhere I read this was required ... and sure enough the Laz dmg doesn't install this).
(b) FINALLY found the DMG download after wasting a lot of time reading about fink, trying brew, getting lost in the thicket of options on sourceforge, etc.
(c) Laz told me I was going to be disappointed as there was no FPC compiler
(d) install FPC VIA brew (thank god for brew)
(e) right now I am waiting (I have been waiting 15 minutes) for Laz to complete "Creating file index of FPC sources". Why is this taking FOREVER? Anyway I am stuck here until Laz finishes...and I am PRAYING it does finsih and isn't just permanently hung.
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Community: All the brilliant programmers in the world can't properly promote Lazarus merely by coding...there needs to be clean and easy install without all the rat traps sitting around to chew someones leg off. IS THERE ANY CENTRAL GROUP handing questions of Laz install and support on MacOS/OSX? How can we help them; how can we help them help us??? It's like all but one foot of a Marathon has been run and we've decided to take a snooze or get stoned or something. We can do this; certainly I would like to try and help.